Career Planning
People looking to province to build careers, lives'Saskaboom' lures OntariansIn the end, she was a prairie girl at heart. After living in Guelph for five years, Melanie Berard and her husband Derek moved to "Saskaboom" in pursuit of the big-city amenities and small-town feel they loved. LINDA WHITE -- Special to the Sun Media |
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They were among 920 people who flocked from Ontario to the once have-not province in the last three months of last year. And with good reason. Saskatchewan is finally enjoying its time in the sun, making headlines across North America as a jobs "hot spot."
"We grew up in Manitoba and though we weren't unhappy in Guelph, we were missing the big prairie sky and the slower pace of life," Berard says.
She convinced her employer, Cooperators Life Insurance, to transfer her to Regina. She traded in her position as media producer to work as a multimedia communications specialist.
Her husband was working in sales for a manufacturer that sold to a distributor in Regina. He reached out to his contacts and successfully landed a new job. "There's certainly a need for people in Saskatchewan," Berard says.
Though it was hard to leave friends, the couple finds life in their adopted city much less stressful compared to the Greater Toronto Area. "Nothing is more than a five to 10-minute drive away. We live and work in the downtown and can walk to most places," Berard says.
"It's got everything we need: amazing art galleries and museums, lots of restaurants and a great night life ... The Badlands are to the south, we can be in the mountains in just a couple of hours and there are amazing lakes and fishing to the north. We just love the outdoors."
Despite growing opportunities, Saskatchewan is not immune from the global recession. According to the latest employment report released by Statistics Canada, 511,000 people were working in Saskatchewan in March. That's an increase of 10,900 compared to March 2008, but a decrease of 3,300 since February of this year.
Still, its unemployment rate is the lowest in the country at 5.2%. Regina has an unemployment rate of 4% -- the lowest among major Canadian cities -- while Saskatoon is tied with Winnipeg and Ottawa for third-lowest at 5.1%.
Earlier this month, there were 6,500 job openings posted on the Saskjobs.ca website operated by the Ministry of Advanced Education, Employment and Labour.
More than 2,400 of those postings were in sales and service; about 500 were in business, finance and administration; nearly 500 were in oil, gas, mining and agriculture; and 400 were in healthcare. Nearly 1,600 of the total number of positions were based in Saskatoon, while 1,500 were located in Regina.
The province has been aggressively recruiting workers from Ontario and Alberta. Earlier this spring, Premier Brad Wall joined the mayors of Regina and Saskatoon and several Saskatchewan employers at the National Job Fair & Training Expo in Toronto.
To stave on any possible recession, Wall announced a $500-million infrastructure "booster shot" to help keep the economy strong. It is speeding up spending on construction projects just as construction season swings into high gear.
linda.white@rogers.com
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